Due to advances in computing technology, businesses today are able to operate more efficiently when compared to substantially similar businesses only a few years ago. For example, internal networking enables employees of a company to communicate instantaneously by email, quickly transfer data files to disparate employees, manipulate data files, share data relevant to a project to reduce duplications in work product, etc. Furthermore, advancements in technology have enabled factory applications to become partially or completely automated. For instance, operations that once required workers to put themselves proximate to heavy machinery and other various hazardous conditions can now be completed at a safe distance therefrom.
Further, imperfections associated with human action have been minimized through employment of highly precise machines. Many of these factory devices supply data related to manufacturing to databases or web services referencing databases that are accessible by system/process/project managers on a factory floor. For instance, sensors and associated software can detect a number of instances that a particular machine has completed an operation given a defined amount of time. Further, data from sensors can be delivered to a processing unit related to system alarms. Thus, a factory automation system can review collected data and automatically and/or semi-automatically schedule maintenance of a device, replacement of a device, and other various procedures that relate to automating a process.
To quickly and easily effectuate control of a system or process within industrial automation environments, equipment manufacturers typically create specialized human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and/or panels that are employed by operators to deliver commands to industrial systems/processes and/or receive data from industrial systems/processes. In other words, HMIs and/or panels provide an essential communication link between operators and automation devices, wherein such HMIs and/or panels enable operators to, among other things, implement and control devices and receive feedback by monitoring device status and health during operation. Without these interfaces, high-level industrial automation would be difficult if not impossible to achieve.
Over time, HMIs and/or panels have undergone several and drastic changes. For instance, a push-button that commissions and de-commissions a machine is a simplest form of a HMI, and these interfaces have been existent for several years. Terminals were later designed that displayed text messages to end users, wherein such messages are indicative of a process performed by a server or processor associated with an automation device. Typically, HMIs and/or panels utilize various expansion models/techniques that utilize some disparate and/or unique connection, wherein such connections can be costly, and inefficient. Moreover, such expansion models/techniques can be oversized, large, and cumbersome.